


A Letter Between Those Who Will Soon be Family

by hiddencait



Category: Kate and Cecelia - Caroline Stevermer & Patricia Wrede
Genre: Background Cecelia Tarleton/James Tarleton, Background Thomas Schofield/Kate Schofield, Epistolary, F/M, Gen, Regency, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28010502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiddencait/pseuds/hiddencait
Summary: ... in which a goat is discussed.
Relationships: Thomas Schofield & Cecelia Tarleton
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	A Letter Between Those Who Will Soon be Family

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hippolytas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hippolytas/gifts).



Dear Almost My Cousin Thomas,

Do not scold now. I’m well aware that sending you a letter is less than appropriate by most opinions of the Ton (especially Aunt Charlotte’s), but as you are practically family or at least soon to be so, I feel it hardly as improper as it might be otherwise, and I did feel I needed to write to you if only to set certain records straight, you see.

My dearest Kate indicated in her latest letter that she might in fact have explained about Squire Bryant’s goat, but as she did not explicitly recount her tale to you to me, I know her well enough to guess that she’ll have told it all wrong. Bouncers, she can, of course, spin with next to no effort, but retelling a true story – particularly one that is… shall we say, less than flattering of herself or I occasionally can cause her to stumble.

I, on the other hand, as I’m sure James will have complained to you, can hardly be bothered with whether a tale or excursion _might_ be embarrassing, especially when overall it is so utterly amusing in my opinion.

Georgy will not think so if the truth of the debacle is ever spread about, particularly to Oliver, so you mustn’t mention it to her, though I understand it will be rather unlikely for you to do so.

Well, you should by now know most of the principles in our little drama. I believe you should meet Aunt Elizabeth soon, and I daresay you will find her quite an improvement over Aunt Charlotte. But otherwise, you have met all of those involved. Well, aside from Squire Bryant and the goat of course, but that is neither here nor there.

So, Oliver is… well Oliver. I would never apologize for him, though I will say he and Georgy have been making cakes of themselves over each other for years now, and it has unfortunately led to both of them being rather cruel – both deliberately and by accident – from time to time. In this particular case, Oliver was quite a bit crueler even than usual in that respect due to his abruptly deciding Georgy had a bit of a tendre for the Horrible Hollydean of all ridiculous notions. I shan’t repeat exactly what was said by him in a temper only that it referred to her new dress and a goat in not particularly flattering terms. Georgy quite rightly took offense, though she did dissolve into far more of a watering pot than I thought the comment deserved. In any case, after her tears dried, she decided that if he was so enamored of someone hardly more attractive than a goat, he might as well just have a goat all to himself to keep him company in his bedroom.

Yes, yes, I know – not at all “appropriate” but this incident _is_ why I was denied my Season after all.

Where was I? Ah yes, Georgy’s declaration. Well, she was strangely determined that her revenge take place and managed to convince Kate and I to go along with it, as much because Oliver was taking his temper out on both of _us_ by that point, as well. We ascertained who of our neighbors might have a goat easy enough to abscond with, and also when best to attempt the deed. We had timelines and alibis and rendezvous and secondary rendezvous all decided and plotted out. Really, it was a practical campaign all together, and one that was going to be a bit of a thrill to accomplish if I do say so myself.

Only then on the night it was planned, and after Kate and I had already slipped out of the house and out toward Squire Bryant’s, Aunt Elizabeth caught Georgy when she tried to leave. She made some excuse or other and managed to duck back to bed, but unfortunately she roused Aunt Elizabeth’s suspicions and that lady was inclined to check on all her wayward nieces, thus discovering we also were not abed as we should be.

Only Kate and I, of course, were not at all aware Georgy’d been apprehended. So we waited at the spot where we’d planned for the initial rendezvous for a solid half hour before quite frankly we grew annoyed and assumed Georgy had lost her nerve. But by then, we’d already put in all of the reconnaissance of finding a goat and the work of escaping the house after dark and really what were we to do – go back home empty handed? Hardly.

Luckily the moon was out, so it wasn’t particularly difficult to traverse the fields to Squire Bryant’s manor, especially when he’s been our neighbor all our lives and we could practically find the way in our sleep let alone just in the dark. It wasn’t difficult either to find the goat in question – one we knew from prior experience to be normally quite sweet and willing to be led about almost like a dog with those she knew – and we managed to tie a lead about her neck and get her out of the pen without any trouble.

It was only on the way back home that we came across any difficulties. We had made it to the far edge Twelve-Acre Field, which is the property closest to our own, when the goat suddenly seemed to realize that it was dark and that we were taking her away from her proper bed and thus began to struggle quite wildly to go back from when she came.

And quite _loudly._

Loudly enough that Aunt Elizabeth who was outside searching our garden for Kate and I heard the little beast’s bleating all the way across said field, and so, was there waiting for us about halfway across. At nearly one in the morning.

She was… not best pleased to say the least. She marched us back to Squire Bryant’s and returned the now perfectly docile little goat to her pen with Squire Bryant none the wiser, and then marched us back home in disgrace.

Aunt Elizabeth didn’t even bother asking _why_ we had the goat out at such an hour, which is why Georgy’s involvement never came up and she at least escaped our punishment. Though, I suppose being told to remain home where Oliver was wouldn’t have been much of a punishment to her by then, as Oliver was back to cooing at her. She of course was batting her eyelashes back at him, as if the insult had never occurred and she’d never plotted to deposit a barnyard animal in his bedroom. Really in retrospect, I am rather cross about that, but at the time I was far more cross with the aunts for banning me from having my Season.

In any case, there was no harm done on any counts, so as I’m sure you now understand, the entire situation was blown utterly out of proportion by our aunts, and, I should certainly have been allowed a Season of my own with our darling Kate in London.

We shall _not_ be revealing to the aunts that I am in retrospect rather grateful that I was not, in fact, in London considering the events that occurred here instead. As I am rather pleased with the betrothed I managed to acquire here, I can only doubt I would have enjoyed the suitors I found there. James certainly would be bereft without me, and also possibly a permanent structure in Sir Hillary’s odious garden.

All in all, I suppose events did unfold as they ought to have, but still. It’s the principle of the thing, at this point.

I suppose I will have to console myself that I (and James, Kate, and yourself of course) at least will be granted a fascinating Grand Tour while one Georgy is left home as she so deserves to be.

Or something of that nature. Who knows what Aunt Charlotte may decide for Georgy’s fate once Kate and I are removed from her view as her normal scapegoats?

Squire Bryant’s scapegoats, even.

Sincerely,

Your Almost Cousin Cecilia


End file.
